Twenty years ago, balzania put in place regulations requiring operators of surface mines to pay for the reclamation of mined-out land. since then, reclamation technology has not improved. yet, the average reclamation cost for a surface coal mine being reclaimed today is only four dollars per ton of coal that the mine produced, less than half what it cost to reclaim surface mines in the years immediately after the regulations took effect. which of the following, if true, most to account for the drop in reclamation costs described?
(a)- even after balzania began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, coal mines in balzania continued to be less expensive to operate than coal mines in almost any other country.
(b)-in the twenty years since the regulations took effect, the use of coal as a fuel has declined from the level it was at in the previous twenty years.
(c)-mine operators have generally ceased surface mining in the mountainous areas of balzania because reclamation costs per ton of coal produced are particularly high for mines in such areas.
(d)-even after balzania began requiring surface mine operators to pay reclamation costs, surface mines continued to produce coal at a lower total cost than underground mines.
(e)-as compared to twenty years ago, a greater percentage of the coal mined in balzania today comes from surface mines.

The correct answer is letter "C": Mine operators have generally ceased surface mining in the mountainous areas of Balzania because reclamation costs per ton of coal produced are particularly high for mines in such areas.

Explanation:

It is imperative to understand what reclamation costs are. Once some land has been mined out, cultivation needs to be put back to some use. The work is costly and it is important for operators to pay the Government for reclamation. What would make the cost of reclamation be decreased? Where technology gets better and reclaiming everywhere costs less or when high-cost areas of reclamation are not exploited. The last leads us to option letter "C". It states that mining has stopped in an especially high-cost area of reclamation. This will reduce the average cost of reclamation even if in other places may still have the same cost.

- "the civil rights movements"

- "following the american civil war and abolition of slavery, the united states entered a period known as reconstruction, during which black americans continued to suffer from disenfranchisement, racial segregation, and economic oppression. beginning in the early 1950's, black americans launched a series of major campaigns of civil resistance, emphasizing the need for nonviolent protests and civil disobedience."

"such as the montgomery bus boycott of 1955-56, a campaign launched by rosa parks against the policy of racial segregation of the public transit system in alabama. “sit-ins” became popular across the american south, particularly in greensboro, north carolina, increase national sentiment."

- "the counterculture movement"

- "counterculture began to develop in the united states following the rise of conformity in american culture during the 1950s. by 1963, youth, particularly those of the white middle class, began rejecting the cultural standards and normality of their parents, opting for progressive attitudes instead. the movement gained momentum as the civil rights movement became increasingly successful and as the u.s. military intervention of vietnam began to take a negative turn."

"hippie counterculture moved further into popular culture following the summer of love in 1967 when thousands of people came together in the haight-ashbury neighborhood of san francisco. along with greenwich village in new york city, haight-ashbury became a hub for the counterculture movement."

world war i began in 1914, after the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand, and lasted until 1918. during the conflict, germany, austria-hungary, bulgaria and the ottoman empire (the central powers) fought against great britain, france, russia, italy, romania, japan and the united states (the allied powers). to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, world war i saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. by the time the war was over and the allied powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

explanation: